In Bhubaneswar, a voluntary organisation Kalinga Sena, organised a demonstration and burnt the effigy of Gautam Prasad.
“His (Mahatma Gandhi) disgrace is India’s disgrace, the disgrace of one billion people of India. We are staging a protest against Gautam and we demand capital punishment for him,” said Kalinga Sena President Hemanth Rath.
[Source]
Gandhigiri on the march ! Death to the infidel ! Wouldn’t Bapuji have been proud of Kalinga Sena chieftain (incidentally was not the Kalinga Sena wiped out by Emperor Asoka thousands of years ago?) Hemanth Rath and the violent students of Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith for their belligerent upholding of the principles of forgiveness and tolerance?
Granted that Gautam Prasad is an ass. His Gandhi poledance and stripping routine as seen on youtube (link intentionally not provided) is not satire or smart iconoclasm but an attempt to elicit laughs (he is a professional clown) by the debasement of himself (and by association of the Gandhi/towelhead stereotype that he plays) in front of a Western audience. But if there be an even greater parody of Gandhism then it has to be the behavior of these other amateur clowns, who are not even aware of the ironic silliness of their demands for “capital punishment”.
And another point in passing. In report after report, I see the same mistake: that Gautam Prasad shows Gandhi pole-dancing and then fighting/cavorting with women. Actually there are two videos: one of Mr. Prasad and another a parody of the movie Gandhi by Weird Al Yankovich where Gandhi is shown eating beef, fighting and womanizing.
Coming back to the main point, the biggest loser in this glorious spectacle is the Indian government, which consistently insists on behaving like the typical crackpot Islamic state in obsessively frothing at the mouth in response to any perceived insult. In its infinite wisdom, it has served show-causes to the Indian channels which carried the news and called for the video to be taken down failing which a ban would be placed on Youtube.
Yes the Big Ban Theory. Once again.
Sigh.
[Post script: This is my blog’s 300th post and taking advantage of the euphoria that this has unleashed all across the world, Abhishek Bachchan has finally proposed to Aishwarya Rai. And she has accepted and if unconfirmed reports are to be believed, she has promised him a little B by the time the 400th post is made on this blog.]
The Greatbong Blog & Podcast 
Congrats on your 300th post.
Bang on target as usual.
I would agree to the fact that dishonouring Mahatma Gandhi is an insult to our country, but this is no way no react to such things. We show our love and respect for the man who taught us non violence but practising violence !!
@GB
Could not agree with you more, when you say:
The best response in such situations would have been not to comment at all and give it unnecessary publicity that it obviously does not deserve. This knee-jerk reaction has become somewhat of a commonality as far as our govt (no matter which party) is concerned. I can’t help but relate it to the “Borat” fiasco for the Kazakhstan govt or the case of Orkut and those stupid “anti-india” groups which were also given undue publicity by the govt acknowledgment.
I haven’t seen Lage raho munnabhai, but as long as we’re on the topic didn’t munna marry the girl at the end of munnabhai mbbs? And he’s pataoing girls in the next one? can someone straighten this out for me?
Sorry, but this intrigues me more than the govts. saudi style shenanigans.
I did not mind Gautam ass Prasad video – he is entitled to it as a free man in a free country. But what I DID mind was the channels showing that video. I think the government did the right thing by asking the channels to issue an apology to the public.
The channel’s action were simply uncalled for. I wouldnt blame Youtube or see why Govt should block Youtube, but I wouldnt mind if these media channels are fined and asked to apologize :).
Afterall, simple wardrobe malfunctions these days induct heavy fines, this was way worse in context hehe :d
Suyog
Congratulations on the 300th post, GB da. Only if, the Indian cricket team was as prolific in scoring runs as you are in posting to your blogs.
Sigh, if wishes were horses, Tintin would have been preparing for the Kentucky derby!
@GB: Congratulations on 300! Now to see you become Indiblogger of the Year hands down. And a request… a post on Ranadeb, Sourav Sarkar and Sourashish soon. See you at 400. Best Wishes.
Congratulations on 300 Not Out,GB.Hope to read many more from you…
Reminds me of the euphoria that hit Cal in 1989…the alleged 300 brithday of Calutta. Congrats!
Gandhi or not, the government will remain a useless puppet that will just go “BAN BAN BAN” if some arbid political upstart party (Kainga Sena!?!?) demands. Sure the clown was being an ass (rhetoric?) and I think he should be punished. But how? Something creative, perhaps…
Arnab,
The government should have embalmed Gandhi. Kept the fellow floating in some chemical like they do on Red Square. Is not democracy all about questioning authority?
Anyway, congratulations; also, I’ve had some requests over the months that have not been graced with your reply. First, ‘Bangla’ serials on Tara and like channels; Second, something on the fast and furious Bhappi-da. I also add a serious request: Singur and the CPM. All of these are West Bengal oriented, but where does one find such magnificent examples of art (serials) and culture (Bhappi-da induced East-West dialogues) and, finally, such examples of high ideals in socio-economic policy.
Cheers,
Vasabjit
Wel, oppurtunity like this allow us to take potshots on ppl lik Hemanth Rath & ofcourse our ever ‘vigilant’ government. While Hemant can be discarded for publicity needed for his Sena — the government is a bitch in heat…wil gt ‘stuck’ in anythin nd everythin..anyways..bst wishes for your triplets…may you grow in abundance..
Congratulations on 300 GB, keep it up!
From the link you cited:
“Aishwarya and Abhishek were soon spotted at the Varanasi Sankat Mochan temple on November 27, 2006.
After that incident, the Rais and Bachchans were seen making endless visits to all the holy temples across the country for God’s blessings”..
I find this extremely hilarious the number of times paparazzis spot Indian icons praying in temples for god’s blessings: be it filmstars, politicians or cricketers (well, that exhausts the list of possible Indian icons, really) – remember the incident of the ‘dada’ with Nagma? It seems one could get a break into the world of Indian Page 3 journalism simply by hiding in various temples across the country with a hidden camera. I sometimes wonder if this is really coincidental or if our icons are really trying hard to put a message across to the swooning masses.
Though you don’t seem to be in a dearth of ideas ever, I can imagine that this might draw out an interesting post from you, GB!
300 not out!
Lage raho GB!
Congrats GB on the 300th post. Next milestone, hoping to see 300 responses to one of your post.
Congrats Arnab. Keep the good work going.
Congratulations to Greatbong , Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai ! 🙂
Congrats GreatBong, on the 300th post. Enjoy.
Gandhi who?
Bang on target as usual – I wish so many people wern’t out to make supreme asses of themselves in public – from Gautam Prasad, Kalinga Sena and the GOI. Sigh! I guess we’ll see more stupidities in times to come.
O tempora, o mores!
Only good thing to come out of it – GB-300. Congratulations Arnab, and keep it up!
Yourfan writes:
@GB: Congratulations for your 300th post. What does your source say – will the ‘activities’ relating Aish’s ‘promise’ be sanctified too by so many prayers at so many temples, mosques, churches- Amar, Akbar, Anthony style?
By the way, did you know that Big B has praised your Mithunda profusely for his acting skill in Guru?
Thank you for the wishes.
Now Vasabjit with respect to your comment: I really never saw much of the Alpha Bangla serials. No not even DD’s “Jononi”. Bappi-da shall try sometime…I really like his music. And Singur… I briefly touched upon it in a previous post….the thing is I find it difficult to get good material on the Net with regards to the actual situation in Singur.
And Ranjan, I need to see a last 10 innings form sheet for Ranadeb (not available from Statsguru since it does not cover First Class matches) to make a case for him. In terms of overall career stats, his record is not vastly different from say R P Singh. Again I understand he has been in sensational form recently but I need numbers to be convinced of that.
Yourfan I so do want to see Guru…if not for anything else but for Mithunda’s performance.
The best way would be to ignore him and his “creativity”.
Congratulations on your 300th post!! Hope you continue to entertain on the otherwise boring blogosphere!
Congrats on your 300th post Arnabda! And wasn’t Kalinga Sena responsible for teaching non-violence to Emperor Ashoka too? I mean not directly, but you get the point…
@GB: I had seen the last 10 matches in an article somewhere but can’t find it now for the life of me. Here is the season record from our favourite site, where you can compare his performance to datealong with all the others. Even though he is the 2nd highest (1 short of the 1st) in number of wickets look at his economy, his figures.
http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2006-07/IND_LOCAL/RJI-SUPER/STATS/RANJI_2006-07_AVS_BOWL_MOST_WKTS.html.
@yourfan2, others, Help. We need the last 10 match breakdown for Ranadeb. If possible, a compare/contast with Joginder Singh, RP Singh and Ramesh Powar match by match would help. For now we have only these stats to go by.
@GB: Good news! I found all the matches with all the scorecards here (again referencing our favourite site, and why not):http://eap.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2006-07/IND_LOCAL/RJI-SUPER/SCORECARDS/.
This should give you all the info you need, in addition to all the articles about Ranadeb’s performance this season. The time is now.
@Ranjan- On second thoughts, it just crossed my mind that Joginder can bat and is considered a bowler who can bat fairly if not overtly well. However Bose’s first class average is less than 5. While that should not be a problem as far as Test Cricket is concerned, in ODIs you would want even a number 11 who can bat a bit (Even Paneser has has improved his batting).So with the WC in mind, the selectors may have taken that into account while picking the team. However, I still think that he should have in the 30, and nothing can deny him the praise he deserves for a great season. He’s young and his time would surely come provided selection is honest and he maintains his good show.
@yourfan2: I strongly suspect Big Bose actually can bat if he wants. For example:
http://iccheshireonline.icnetwork.co.uk/0200sport/0600cricket/tm_headline=ranadeb-stars-in-last-ball-thriller&method=full&objectid=17450896&siteid=50020-name_page.html.
I don’t think more is expected of the ODI number 11 and facing Chris Harris to do what is reported here is pretty good. He should be in.
@Ranjan- :). I”ll put my hand up and say “Im not saying he shouldnt”. Maybe it will help his cause if Himesh makes a number on his plight…what do you say. 🙂
@yourfan2: Sure, I’ll even ask Himessbhai to join in if he can help…. er, maybe not. Given Rono’s tastes, Jimbo may turn in his grave in Paris ;-). But seriously I hope my humble effort to get the right stats to GB helps the cause. This cause is worthy and the time is NOW.
I would like to add my two paisas worth here. In their report about media freedom the Reporters Without Borders put India at the 120th position. Every time the censor board brings out its scissors or the government places a ban, we fall further down the ladder.
It looks like the the government in India has the responsibility of acting like a guardian. And that only means one thing, the government treats its citizens as children who need to be constantly monitored.
This is not how a democracy should function. Its the duty of the people to monitor the governments functioning, not the other way round.